EATING
These scriptures might help us to consider the great and important subject of eating. I desire to speak not only of food but of eating certain food. Every kind of food that is needed for the believer down here is available, but the question is whether we eat the food available to us. No matter how large a spread anyone may have on the dining table, it will do no one any good unless it is eaten. Eating is the responsibility of the person who is to be maintained in life, and where the constitution is normal the other processes are automatic. But eating is of all importance.
John 6 begins with the feeding of the five thousand. The Lord is able to give food to the crowd; He is able for numbers. This sign introduces the Lord’s teaching. John does not write his gospel as a history; he writes to present the Lord’s teaching. The Lord speaks about Himself in verse 33, “The bread of God is he who comes down out of heaven and gives life to the world”. There could be no life in this world apart from the coming down of the Lord Jesus into manhood, into the condition of blood and flesh. There is no life apart from that. It is the attitude, the grace, of coming down out of heaven. Think of the manhood of Jesus, dear brethren. How wonderful it is! He is a Man of another order. He is a real Man, but He is not of Adam’s fallen race. He came down out of heaven, His manhood is real and yet of entirely another order. He came into the condition in which we are, as we read this afternoon, “Since therefore the children partake of blood and flesh, he also, in like manner, took part in the same”, Heb 2: 14. We have flesh and blood condition as our common lot; He took part in it, coming from heaven. We sang about Him making Himself of no reputation. Paul tells us in Philippians 2: 7 that He “emptied himself”. It is this ‘coming down’ attitude, Paul writes to the Philippians, “Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus; who, subsisting in the form of God, did not esteem it an object of rapine to be on an equality with God; but emptied himself”, Phil 2: 5-7. Who could explain what that means? He emptied Himself. He divested Himself of the rightful dignity that belonged to Him, to come into a condition of blood and flesh. What a stoop that was! “The bread of God is he who comes down out of heaven and gives life to the world”. Then He says, “I am come down from heaven, not that I should do my will, but the will of him that has sent me”, John 6: 38.
We began to read where the Lord says, “Unless ye shall have eaten the flesh of the Son of man, and drunk his blood, ye have no life in yourselves”. The obligation is put on the believer, “Unless ye shall have eaten”. All that came into expression in the Lord Jesus in His perfection of life in blood and flesh here becomes available in His death. In the sacrifices of old the animal had to be without blemish. The blood of the animal was its life but it only became available on the death of the animal. The fat of the animal was for God, but it only became available when the animal died. Food is available for us, dear brethren, in the death of Christ. He came into a body of blood and flesh, the condition in which we are, that there might be something for us beyond that condition. He came into the condition of flesh and blood to end that condition. There was no other way of ending it but that the Son of man should come down from heaven, come into the condition, and go into death to end that condition and open up another kind of life. “Unless ye shall have eaten the flesh of the Son of man, and drunk his blood, ye have no life in yourselves. He that eats my flesh and drinks my blood has life eternal”. Now this is intensely individual. If we are going to continue in the testimony we need to appropriate this kind of food. Do not say it is too difficult or too hard.
John in his gospel writes of crises, not exactly because of issues of the truth, or issues of righteousness, but tests as to whether persons are true disciples, whether persons have life in themselves. It has been said that John writes to make believers out of believers; it could also be said that he writes to make disciples out of disciples. In chapter 8 the Lord says, “If ye abide in my word, ye are truly my disciples” (John 8: 31), not just disciples nominally, or merely professedly, but truly disciples. This chapter appears difficult, but what I want to say is that there is such a thing as this kind of food provided for us, and it is essential to life that we should eat it. “Unless ye shall have eaten the flesh of the Son of man, and drunk his blood, ye have no life in yourselves”. If therefore we are to be in life we must know something of appropriating by feeding on the death of our Lord Jesus Christ in this character. “He that eats my flesh and drinks my blood has life eternal”. We speak about eternal life, and there was a conflict in the history of the testimony regarding it. Now do we come into life eternal? It is not apart from eating His flesh and drinking His blood. “He that eats my flesh and drinks my blood has life eternal, and I will raise him up at the last day”. It looks right on to the end, right on to the first resurrection and the world to come. He says, “for my flesh is truly food and my blood is truly drink”.
I would like to interest the brethren here in this kind of food, and the essential need of eating it. It will be the means of entrance into life out of death, into life according to God, eternal life, life to which death does not attach, to be enjoyed, to be experienced, now. How does it come about? By eating, appropriating this kind of food. It will change our tastes; it will change our way of life. You might be a nominal believer, a nominal disciple, and maybe not much different from a man in the world, but if you know what it is to eat His flesh and drink His blood you will be a real believer, and a real disciple, and you will know what eternal life is. Eternal life is another area altogether in which you will find your life. This food will change your tastes, your habits, and your whole way of life. How essential that is! It will result in an assembly outlook and life according to God.
The way to it is eating this kind of food, not only knowing about it, not only admiring it, but eating it. The Lord says here, “He that eats my flesh and drinks my blood dwells in me and I in him”. How great these statements are! I am not able to say much about them, but I would like to interest everyone here. There is such a food as this, but it must be eaten. It will save us from being merely nominal. John does not view believers as being in fellowship nominally, belonging to a certain company, or meeting in a certain room. John views real believers as persons who eat the flesh and drink the blood of the Son of man. Then the Lord says, “As the living Father has sent me and I live on account of the Father, he also who eats me shall live also on account of me”. What a standard that is! Think of Jesus here living on account of the Father! It is food which is available for us to eat, to appropriate, to get into our very beings, so that we are no longer governed by what is merely natural and what belongs to flesh and blood, but, while still in the condition of flesh and blood, we know a life that is outside of flesh and blood. This is Christianity. Eating His flesh and drinking His blood is the appropriation of the death of Christ, and eating “me” is appropriating Him where He is.
It includes appropriating the Lord Jesus as the Priest. What we had in the reading was largely objective, to remind one another of the fact that there is such a One High Priest. How attractive and available He is! This is how we on our side, as eating, appropriate the Priest, “shall live also on account of me”. He becomes essential to our very lives. He becomes indispensable to us. How indispensable the Father was to Jesus here! He who appropriates Jesus where He is will find Him indispensable. He will live on account of Him. The Lord said later on, in John 14: 20, “In that day”—that is, the day in which we are, the day of the Spirit—“ye shall know that I am in my Father, and ye in me, and I in you”. How great these things are, but they are not beyond us. This is something that is worth going in for. It is not being attached to a certain company, and going to a certain room, or anything nominal. It is what is real in the way of life, living, life according to God, life out of death, eternal life.
Then we find that “Many therefore of his disciples”—His disciples, mark you; we have the crowd in this chapter, and we have the Jews who murmured, but here we have His disciples—“having heard it said, This word is hard; who can hear it?”. We find later that, “From that, time many of his disciples went away back and walked no more with him”, John 6: 66. We find in our day that persons go away. You might say, ‘They did not see the issue of the truth’, or ‘They were not able to stand in the matter of righteousness’. Maybe, dear brethren, they lacked the life which is presented here. Let us commit ourselves to know more of this kind of food and be found in life here. So the Lord says, “Does this offend you? If then ye see the Son of man ascending up where he was before?”. Jesus, the Son of man, ascended up where He was before! As Son of man the Lord Jesus came on man’s side in order that men might live, in order that we might live. He stooped, He emptied Himself, and came into the condition of blood and flesh, and died, and He has ascended up where He was before. Then He says, “It is the Spirit which quickens, the flesh profits nothing”. The Son of man is ascended up where He was before, but the Spirit is here, available to us. This section is intensely individual. It is for each one of us, you and me.
When we come to Exodus 12 we have food that is eaten householdly. It is the passover lamb. The food that is presented here is the lamb “roast with fire; its head with its legs and with its inwards”. It presents the perfection of Jesus sustaining suffering on our account. It is Jesus as the holy Sufferer, exposed to the wrath and judgment of God to which we were subject. He was exposed to it.
It is the sufferings of Jesus on our account. God gives instruction in this first section that the lamb was to be eaten. If you read this chapter carefully you will find that when Moses epitomises Jehovah’s instruction, he does not mention the eating of the lamb. He gives instruction regarding the blood being put on the lintel and the two doorposts, but for some reason Moses makes no reference to eating the lamb roast with fire. They were thankful to put the blood on the lintel and the two door-posts, but did they maintain the eating of .the lamb roast with fire? When they came into the wilderness they murmured. They lusted after the food they had in Egypt, and if it had been available to them they would have appropriated it; they did not really appreciate the manna. Why was it? It was because they did not maintain the eating of the lamb roast with fire. Whether Moses knew there was no appetite for it, I do not know, but Moses did not mention it. It says regarding this lamb “each according to the measure of his eating”, Exod 12: 4. It is a question of appetite, whether we have appetite householdly for the eating of the lamb roast with fire, whether we contemplate, and are concerned to be in keeping with, the sufferings of the Lord Jesus on our account.
The fact that they did not eat meant that their tastes were not changed. Their tastes were still like the Egyptians’ tastes. Now, dear brethren, what is suitable in our houses and what goes on in our houses tests the householder especially. I do not intend to say what is suitable and what is not suitable. What I am concerned about is that our tastes should be right, that our tastes should change through the appropriation of the lamb roast with fire, of the sufferings of the Lord Jesus on our account, that we should be entirely delivered from the world and worldly things and come into the wilderness and be here for the will of God. These persons were actually brought into the wilderness. They could not, if they desired, get back to Egypt again, but in the wilderness they murmured because there was nothing to satisfy their worldly Egyptian tastes, whereas to have eaten of the lamb roast with fire would have altered their tastes, and they would have been content with God’s provision in the wilderness. The manna, the water that came from the smitten rock, all that God supplied to them in grace in the wilderness, would have been appreciated had their tastes changed. But their taste did not change.
The house of everyone here, I am sure, has what answers to the blood on the lintel and the doorposts, but whether every household is engaged in eating of the passover lamb inside is another matter. If we do we shall know what the wilderness is; this world will become a wilderness to us. I think we can have the blood on the lintel and the door-posts, and goings-on in the household not be according to God. We could not have goings-on not according to God if there were the eating of the lamb roast with fire inside. This is a household exercise of eating, appropriating this kind of food, that our households may be maintained for the pleasure and glory of God. It is a vital matter in our day in our houses, including young people. The householder is responsible. The householder was responsible here, a man for a house. I am not saying what is suitable and what is not suitable. What I am concerned about is that our tastes should be right. What will deliver us from Egyptian tastes is this eating of the lamb roast with fire, the sufferings of our Lord Jesus Christ. It is what underlies the Lord’s supper. The passover is what the believer is meant to feed on through the week so that he is ready for the Lord’s supper. I remember the time when, at the Lord’s supper, we used to dwell on the Lord’s atoning sufferings at length, until the Lord in ministry pointed out that that is the kind of contemplation we are meant to have through the week, so that we are ready to proceed with the Lord’s supper when we come together.
When we come to our scripture in Leviticus we have what is suitable to be eaten in the sanctuary, therefore this would be what we would call an assembly matter. The goat of the sin-offering, I suppose, refers to the previous chapter, the eighth day, where the goat of the sin-offering was offered for the people, see Lev 9: 15. Regarding the sin-offering for the priest, the body was burned outside the camp and the blood was brought into the sanctuary, but with the goat of the sin-offering which was for the people the blood was not brought into the sanctuary. Where the blood is brought into the sanctuary there is the whole answer, the blood of Jesus. The Lord Jesus has answered fully the whole question of sin and departure and failure. What a comfort that is! Where the blood was brought into the sanctuary the body was burned outside the camp, wholly consumed. It speaks of the One who sustained all the holy wrath and judgment of God, and perfectly answered to God’s eternal satisfaction. When we come to the anti-type, it is not only the blood carried in, it is the One who shed His blood who has gone in in all the fragrance of the incense. The One who shed His blood has gone in and He there is the full answer to every departure on the part of His people down here. But where the blood is not carried in, the sin-offering has to be eaten in the sanctuary. The Lord, sustaining everything, is perfect, but He looks for an answer from us in our local settings.
Moses said in verse 18, “Lo, its blood was not brought in within the sanctuary—ye should certainly have eaten it in the sanctuary”. It is feeling with God, having God’s feelings about things that happen. Aaron and his sons were overwhelmed with their own personal loss and sorrow. I am not minimising the personal sorrows that some of our dear brethren have. The Lord knows all about the sorrows that our brethren carry, but Aaron was so overwhelmed by it that he was not able to eat the sin-offering; he could not rise to it. Moses accepted what he said, but the Lord rightly looks for our feeling things as He feels them, not just our own personal sorrows and loss, but feeling matters as God feels them. Moses said, “Ye should certainly have eaten it in the sanctuary, as I commanded”. Someone mentioned this afternoon that Aaron perhaps never appeared again in his garments of glory and ornament. Perhaps this chapter provides the reason, for when we come to chapter 16 verse 1 reference is made to this chapter. There was some deficiency, and although it was allowed for, nevertheless there was a lack. I wonder if there is a lack in our local settings as to feeling things as God feels them. How important it is that there should be an answer down here. There is the answer up there all right. There is the answer in the fact that the blessed One who shed His blood has gone in, and there is the answer to every question, everything that has come in in the way of failure and departure; but the Lord rightly looks for some answer down here in our local settings, that we are feeling things as God feels them. May the Lord help us to eat this kind of food. I am aware that I have endeavoured to present the eating of food which we may wish to avoid, but I am assured that it is important and available and not beyond us.
In closing I desire to refer to Jeremiah 15 in which we might take comfort from the fact that Jeremiah fluctuates somewhat like ourselves. He is not all he ought to be. He was God’s servant and representative; he had served faithfully, but we find here that he says some good things and some things not so good. How like him we are! This chapter has to do with the fact that God is going to judge Judah and Jerusalem. We were reminded some years ago in ministry as to the doom of Christendom. Christendom is doomed; it is judged, awaiting the execution of the judgment. God has a judgment of it and we are meant to have a judgment of it too, in line with what God feels. Jehovah says here, “Though Moses and Samuel stood before me, my soul would not turn toward this people”, Jer 15: 1. Moses and Samuel interceded for the people and God listened to them, but He says, ‘Though Moses and Samuel were here, I would not listen to them’; the people had departed so far. Jeremiah is found in these circumstances and he finds that he himself is cursed. In verse 10 he finds himself the object of opposition, possibly wrongly so, but Jeremiah is feeling it as it affects himself, and he is getting down under it, just as we very often do. Then he goes on to say in verse 15, “Jehovah, thou knowest: remember me, and visit me, and avenge me of my persecutors”. We ought not to say that kind of thing today. That was not the Christian dispensation. We are not to ask for vengeance on persecutors. We are to bless those who curse us and love our enemies, see Matt 5: 44. What a test that is! Some of us were reading that chapter last night. We were attracted by the teaching of Jesus, but how testing it is when it comes to certain circumstances; “Love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who insult you and persecute you”.
Jeremiah goes on in verse 16 to say, “Thy words were found, and I did eat them”—possibly a reference to the book of the law found by Hilkijah the high priest in the days of Josiah, see 2 Chron 34: 14. He ate them. “And the words were unto me the joy and rejoicing of my heart; for I am called by thy name, O Jehovah, God of hosts”. This is a bright spot in the chapter. It is just like our own experiences, up and down. The weight and burden of things may get us under sometimes. Then in Jeremiah 15: 18 he says, “Why is my pain perpetual”—he complains here—“and my wound incurable? It refuseth to be healed”. Then he says an extraordinary thing to God—“Wilt thou be altogether unto me as a treacherous spring, as waters that fail?”. Do we get as far down as that? Do we complain like that against God? Then there is an answer in verse 19, “Therefore thus saith Jehovah—If thou return ...”. No matter how we have failed or departed, there is always the opportunity to return. God invites us to return. He invites persons who have left to return. “If thou return, then will I bring thee again, thou shalt stand before me; and if thou take forth the precious from the vile, thou shalt be as my mouth. Let them return unto thee; but return not thou unto them”.
These verses helped Mr Darby at the beginning of the revival. These three statements were light to him and governed him during his life. They are to govern us now, near the end of the time. Returning unto them would be fraternising. Be available to help anyone. “Let them return unto thee; but return not thou unto them”. I referred to this chapter to show how Jeremiah is recovered by God’s word, after fluctuating, after serving God and then getting down, not being what he ought to be; but God has in mind his recovery. The Lord has consideration for us. If we are not all we ought to be the Lord would speak to us and encourage us. He will not give us up. Let us be interested in the food available to us, and eat, in order to be here in life for the pleasure of God.
GRANGEMOUTH
17th January 1976
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